


Pretty-eyed/Pirate Smile

by thatonelesbianyouknow



Category: Gorillaz
Genre: Alcohol, Drug Use, Established Relationship, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-17
Updated: 2017-06-17
Packaged: 2018-11-15 09:16:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11227935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thatonelesbianyouknow/pseuds/thatonelesbianyouknow
Summary: Maybe it was something like love. Maybe it was just all the booze.





	Pretty-eyed/Pirate Smile

2D took a long drag on his cigarette, holding the smoke in the back of his throat as he pulled it from his lips. Murdoc watched his mouth form into a tight circle, and he absently blew a few smoke rings, which faded into the night sky with a ghostly dissolve. Murdoc smirked at the distant, yet almost thoughtful look on his face.

“What?” Murdoc teased. “You showin’ off, mate?”

2D let a chuckle escape his throat, the rest of the smoke cascading from his lips in thick billows, coughing slightly. Even as the last of the smoke hit the air, his breath remained visible for a second afterwards, reminding Murdoc of how crisp and cool the night air felt against his skin. It had stopped registering a while ago, an almost empty glass of whiskey in his hand a testament to how he had been keeping so warm up until that point.

There was music playing from Murdoc’s phone; it sounded canned and slightly quiet, but it almost complimented the stillness of the air. Murdoc wasn’t sure how long they had been sat there on the front porch of the Spirit House, listening to old tunes, nursing their drinks as they lazily hung off the dilapidated steps. Murdoc had had several more drinks before this one inside, while he knew that 2D was floating on the after burn of a different vice. He had a beer in his free hand at the moment, though, and Murdoc noticed that it was almost empty.

It was one of those nights that reminded Murdoc of being young again, of the nights spent casually drinking with no direction or any care in the world. Nothing in particular to do, nothing in particular to forget. It was these nights when his feet and tongue would meander where they pleased, taking him to any place and any conversation that happened to cross his mind. Fittingly, he and 2D had busied themselves with listening to old music, from early Gorillaz tracks to songs from their childhood and everything in between.

2D caught his breath, still laughing as he looked over at Murdoc.

“Ozzy again?” He commented, referring to the music coming from Murdoc’s phone speaker. He took a sip from his drink. “What, don’t you listen to anythin’ else, blud?”

“Mate, come on now. You’ve gotta respect the greats.” Murdoc insisted. “Although I was bitin’ the heads off of bats long before he made it trendy.”

2D snorted, giving a dismissive wave of his hand.

“I heard it all before.” 2D said. “And it don’t count if your brother told you it was chocolate, y’know.”

“Ah, fuck off! Sure it does!” Murdoc guffawed, downing the rest of his drink. “The fuck do you know, face ache?”

“It’s too late for this noise, anyways,” 2D scoffed, suddenly snatching Murdoc’s phone up before the older man could protest. “I wanna listen to somethin’ more relaxin’. Chilled out, y’know?”

“What, not chilled out enough?” Murdoc asked, smirking again. “S’pose you could go for a good ol’ Pink Floyd show at the planetarium right about now, eh?”

2D ignored him, sticking his tongue out as he messed around with Murdoc’s phone, wracking his brain for something to put on. Suddenly, his face lit up.

“Ooh! I’ve gotta good one, mate.” He said, pulling the phone closer to his face as he tapped at the screen, as if he wanted to keep it a surprise. He tapped his feet excitedly against the ground. “Y’know, this was the first song I ever learned all the way through on the keyboard.”

“Mm.” Murdoc grunted. “‘Old McDonald Had a Farm’ then, is it? Bet that one took you years. Still can’t quite remember what that cow says, right?”

“...et that one took you years, blah blah blah....” 2D parroted under his breath, mocking him, the look on his face telling Murdoc that if he had visible irises, they would have been crossed. Murdoc rolled his own eyes, stretching his arms up over his head as he waited for 2D to make his choice.

The shift in music was an abrupt one, the chaotic, grimy sounds of Black Sabbath cutting out and being immediately replaced with a soft piano opening. It was unmistakable from the first few notes, one of those tunes you could recognize from across a crowded room. Murdoc didn’t mind it himself, but he found himself laughing as Sir Elton John’s voice began to flow from the phone’s speaker.

_“Blue-jean baby,_  
_L.A. lady,_  
_Seamstress for the band.”_

“Fucking ‘Tiny Dancer?’ Of fucking course, you faggot.”

“What?” 2D dragged the word out sheepishly, starting to giggle. He threw his head back to down what remained of his beer, setting the empty bottle on the stoop. “It’s a classic, ain’t it?”

“Oh, sure.” Murdoc sneered. His tone was light, though, and he genuinely hoped that 2D could tell that the jabs weren’t coming from a malicious place. He knew he was bad at controlling his tone like that. And that 2D was bad at reading the atmosphere as it was. In his best attempt to communicate himself - of course while not actually doing it - he added, “I can just imagine you as a sensitive young lad, sitting alone in your room and crying over dear old Elton and slamming your head against the wall repeatedly, or whatever else you like to do in your free time. Brilliant, honestly.”

“Oi, what happened to respecting the greats?” 2D scoffed. He didn’t sound too wounded as put out his cigarette in the empty beer bottle, placing the phone in between them with a satisfied grin. Murdoc figured that he either understood his intentions, for once, or that was just too high to care. Murdoc sighed, leaning over and resting his elbows on his knees, clasping his hands in front of him. He glanced to the side to see 2D looking back at him, a dopey smile on his face. “You’re one to talk about bein’ sensitive, anyway.”

Murdoc raised an eyebrow at him. “I resemble that statement, sir.”

2D snorted again, reaching out his arm and throwing it over Murdoc’s shoulder. He pulled him closer, only long enough to place a messy kiss against the bassist’s cheek, and then released him.

He seemed restless suddenly, and he sprung to his feet after that. He started to slowly pace in front of Murdoc as the music droned on. For a few bars, he pantomimed playing the chords in the song, fingers ghosting vaguely over imaginary keys. He closed his eyes gently and stretched his arms up over his head. His hands clasped at the nape of his neck, elbows pointed up, as if he were keeping his head from lolling from side-to-side as he began to gently sway back and forth. Murdoc had an impulse to start laughing again, but it quickly caught in his throat.

_“Piano man, he makes his stand,  
In the auditorium.”_

2D almost looked ridiculous, standing there - clearly toasted - dancing with himself to the gentle hum of the music. He was uninhibited, unabashed, and as easy as it would have been to light-heartedly mock him for it, Murdoc couldn’t bring himself to do so. There was something about how the moon was positioned in the sky at that time, how the glow silhouetted 2D against the night. He looked ethereal, and effortlessly so, something that had always blown Murdoc away in moments like these. Quiet moments, when the alcohol in his body hummed through him rather than roared, when he could stop thinking for a few minutes and just live in the present. Just live with _him_.

Those moments were few and far between, but as of late, they had been coming easier to him. 

2D started singing along to the lyrics, quietly at first. He was barely whispering the words, aimless, just as lost in the moment as Murdoc was. As the chorus rolled in, he started singing more purposefully, the words coming out crisper than the night air around them.

_“Hold me closer, tiny dancer,_  
_Count the headlights on the highway,_  
_Lay me down in sheets of linen,_  
_You had a busy day today.”_

2D drifted back around, his eyes catching Murdoc’s and blinking rapidly, as if he had only just remembered that the other man was there. He faltered for a moment, and then smiled, raising an eyebrow in amusement.

“What?” He asked curiously. It wasn’t until that point that Murdoc realized that he had been staring at him - no doubt with all the intensity of a lovesick puppy. He promptly averted his gaze, looking off to the side and scratching his head awkwardly. At this, 2D snorted in amusement, repeating, “What is it?”

Murdoc couldn’t have formed the words to properly express how he was feeling at that moment, not even if he had wanted to. He felt that whatever nonsense left his mouth would only sour the moment, and he let out a dry laugh as he continued to mess with his own hair. 

“Nothin’,” he replied, shaking his head vaguely. 2D hesitated for a moment, and Murdoc could tell there was a compulsion to press the matter, but he ultimately decided not to. Instead, as the song continued to drift through the air, he changed the subject, voice sounding floaty and far off as he spoke up again.

“Y’know, I had me first dance with a girl to this song, back in school,” 2D said. “It was prom. Her name was, uh, Sondra, I think. I was gonna kiss her, too. But see, uh, one of me mates, well he’d spiked the punch earlier....”

“Good show,” Murdoc interjected, chuckling. “Vodka?”

“Nah. PCP.”

“What?” Murdoc started laughing. “Jesus.”

“I horked all over her dress halfway through the song an’ she started cryin’ and ran away,” 2D continued, unfazed by his story. “Then they had to call off the dance early ‘cause some lad ripped off his tux and started swingin’ from the rafters, makin’ King Kong noises an’ all that.”

“Ex-fuckin’-scuse me?” Murdoc choked.

“What? Why’re you laughin’? That’s just the kind of stuff you do in school, ain’t it?”

Murdoc’s laughter tapered off, and he wiped at the moisture forming in the corner of his eyes. When he looked back up, 2D was suddenly closer to him, holding a hand out.

“Yes?” Murdoc asked, a little apprehensive when 2D showed no signs of speaking. The singer’s expression was soft, almost too soft for Murdoc to look at straight on, and the subtle smile on his face could have lit up the entire night sky.

“Shoosh.” 2D hushed, gesturing to himself with his outstretched hand. “C’mere.”

Murdoc looked at his hand pensively for a moment before taking it. 2D helped him up off the stoop, staying steady when Murdoc made a slight stumble, the act of standing so suddenly while drunk making him dizzy. Before he could fully regain his balance and think to ask what 2D was thinking about, 2D had already draped his lanky arms around Murdoc’s shoulders. His hands met loosely at the nape of Murdoc’s neck, and his fingers ghosted through the short strands of hair there. It made Murdoc shiver, the hair on his arms standing up. 2D started swaying again, gentle and understated. Murdoc looked up at him and immediately looked back to the ground. The look on his face made his chest burn.

“What are you doing?” Murdoc asked, nervous laughter escaping him. He never knew how to react when faced with this much affection. Especially from 2D. You’d think after nearly two decades he would have figured something out. But the idea of being immediately open to it made Murdoc’s stomach turn; in a way, he felt like he would be doing something wrong. It was hard to meet those eyes - the ones always so full of love and care and softness. It was too much to meet them and realize that they were pointed at a man like him, someone so ridiculously unworthy of their reverence. Even after all this time, and with how far they had come, Murdoc still couldn’t help this feeling that hung heavy in his chest.

“I said shush.” 2D whispered, and the way he said it made Murdoc feel as if he had read his mind. Maybe he was better at reading the atmosphere than he let on. 2D’s head rolled forward listlessly, and he tapped his forehead against Murdoc’s, letting it linger there. The music continued steadily from behind them, but Murdoc was barely listening anymore. “We don’t always gotta know what’s goin’ on. Y’know?”

_“But, oh, how it feels so real,_  
_Lying here with no one near,_  
_Only you, and you can hear me.”_

Something changed inside Murdoc at that moment. He would almost describe it as a snap, but perhaps more accurate -- a release. He could feel 2D around him, loose and easy, letting himself be taken to a plane of existence that others would not be able to comprehend. The feeling was infectious. 

Maybe it was something like love. Maybe it was just all the booze. Regardless, Murdoc started to feel himself melting away, too. He placed his hands on 2D’s hips, squeezing gently as his eyes drifted closed. To say he was dancing would have been a severe overstatement, but he couldn’t find the mind to fight the rhythmic sway of 2D’s body, so he didn’t.

2D was still humming along to the song, and after a moment, it faded away. Eyes still closed, Murdoc felt 2D lean in even further, pressing his lips against the bassist’s. Murdoc parted his lips, letting him go a little deeper and returning the kiss.

After a while, 2D parted away from the kiss, only to pull Murdoc into a tighter embrace. He tucked his face into the side of Murdoc’s neck with a gentle sigh. Murdoc could feel him smiling against his skin.

Murdoc wrapped his arms around the small of 2D’s back, holding onto him like he might float away at any moment. He opened his eyes then, looking distantly off into the black clutches of night.

He still wasn’t used to the feeling of his mind not racing. It felt dreadfully quiet. Like it was only the calm before the storm. But at the same time, it was warm; familiar even, despite it being a foreign concept to him. Maybe it really was love. There was a thought. He might even write about it one day. For now though, he was content to leave it to more professional men than himself.

_“Lay me down in sheets of linen,  
You had a busy day today.”_


End file.
